The Institute for Mineral Resources at the Univ. of Arizona will receive $17.5 million from Science Foundation Arizona and 15 industry partners to make the group a global leader in all aspects of mineral resource development. Joint announcements were made in Phoenix and Tucson yesterday by state, university, and industry leaders. [right, UA's San Xavier teaching mine outside Tucson. Credit, UA]
Research topics include:
* using low-quality water (instead of high) for Cu-Mo processing;
* energy consumption in the mines;
* using mine sites for alternative energy sites;
* automating equipment for dangerous jobs;
* exploring new technology to track deep-earth miners;
* studying health effects of biodiesel in underground mines;
* examining Australian safety standards (they have low injury rates);
* studying uranium and other exposures in dust;
* geoscience studies to identify the extent of minerals here to extrapolate worldwide (especially at depth)
Good for them for landing such major funding! It is interesting to me to contrast the mineral recovery sort of focus of this research team with the five-fold focus of location, formation, discovery, recovery, and technology of the Centre for Ore Deposit Research in Australia.
ReplyDeletehttp://fcms.its.utas.edu.au/scieng/codes/Research.asp